"I'm so EXCITED!! I said I was going to do it, and here it is! It's for all the girls and guys who want a lot more FANTASY in their lives… and some fierceness and magic, romance and mystery, crazy and wild adventures, and yeah, some danger too," Tyra wrote in a post on her Web site, announcing the first novel – "Modelland" — from the new literary wing of her Bankable company – Bankable Books.

"Modelland" will take readers to "a fantastical place you've never seen, or heard about, or read about before…. Where dreams come true and life can change in the blink of a smoky eye," Tyra wrote.

The book takes place in what Tyra describes as "a make-believe place" called "modelland – every girl in the world wants to go there because it's where 'intoxibellas' are trained," Tyra wrote. From the woman who gave us "smize" (smiling with your eyes), Tyra described an "intoxibella" as "drop-dead beautiful, kick-butt fierce, and… maybe they have some powers too."

Tyra said that as a youth, she loved books that featured "strong girls and women – you know, girls with guts, smarts and attitude" and that love inspired "Modelland."

Tyra's first book in her three-book deal with Delacorte Press is slated to be released in the summer of 2011.